The Chinese tourist in Shanghai

“Come on a cruise on the Huangpu River! Buy your tickets here!” a pimply teenager in a sweat-soaked vest droned loudly into the bustling crowd, “Our deals offer you value for money to see beautiful and modern Shanghai,” he asserted somewhat unenthusiastically.

His colleague, skinny with floppy hair, fanned himself furiously with the sales flyers while thrusting them blindly into the hands of passers-by. A man browsed one disinterestedly and tossed them on the ground as he walked off.

As the sun crept noon high, the oppressive heat pulsating from asphalt and concrete wrapped around me like a suffocating blanket. Each gulp of air was like a slow burn in the lungs. In the distance, a LCD screen flashed mockingly from the side of a building: 39 degrees, and a corresponding picture of a smiley sun icon that quickly blurred in the heat haze. My palms, slippery with perspiration, glided over my Iphone which flashed: 41 degrees. It was one of the hottest days in Shanghai on record.

Yet the heat didn’t stop the seething mass of humanity that descended into the city at the peak of summer. Imagine jostling through the crowds in Manhattan’s Times Square or London’s Oxford Circus on a Saturday in July, this is what pawing through Shanghai’s Nanjing East Road – the artery that feeds into the Bund – can feel like.

Unlike China’s wealthy who jet off to Europe, Asia or luxury resorts dotted around the Indian Ocean, many locals plan their family vacations to China’s major tourist sites with all three generations in tow – two grandparents, two parents and one child. They travel on tour packages in crowded buses, overnight itineraries and budget dinners at 5pm. Shanghai receives over 8 million tourists a year, but the summer holidays are a special kind of hell.

Just then, a large group of Chinese tourists walked by the Peace Hotel (和平饭店) in matching caps; a collective of indecipherable accents. “Ok ok!” A tour guide raised her voice in Putonghua Chinese, “Is everyone here? Are you listening? Is everyone here? We have to board the bus to go to Pudong, where the tall buildings are. We have to hurry.” She mopped a glistening brow furrowed in frustration.

A young boy tugged his father, “But Daddy, the buildings here are already so tall!.”

His father flapped his shirt to cool off, exposing a protruding and smooth belly, explained, “Over in Pudong, the buildings are even taller. Like on TV.”

Exasperated by the lack of response and still missing bodies, the tour guide finally pulled out her portable microphone, “IS EVERYONE HERE?? WE HAVE TO GO!”

Suddenly, two middle-aged ladies in chunky heels sprinted over with large shopping bags, panting and giggling apologetically. Everyone clamored into the tepidly air-conditioned interior of a tourist bus. As it made a U-turn towards the tunnel, their faces pressed against the window, taking in one last time the European splendor of the Bund as they hurtle into the embrace of Pudong’s modern financial district.

2 Comments

Thing I regret the most about visit to town was that the Bund was being retrofitted for Expo 2010, though my partner was so adapt as using European charms and smiles to get us exclusive access to that end turret there were the Huangpu becomes Suzhou Canal…and we at least had a chance to marvel at the length of the Bund from the perspective of the Russian Consulate, at least.

And then the view — limited though it was — on the chain-link bridge which used to separate the International Settlement from the then-Chinese City. I know this is limited of me with my Shanghai geopositioning, but you know exactly what I’m referring to…funny, though, that corner with the Sassoon clan’s Peace Hotel and the exit from East Nanjing Rd. to the Bund is a corner I spent a lot of time on, nevertheless.

Are those families crouching near the Citibank actually in search of air con succor? Looks like it — does the air con blow out onto the road?

Sue Anne

You’re talking about the Waibaidu Bridge, the one sandwiched between the former British Consulate/ Club House and the Russian Consulate. That’s a popular location for photos. Now, the Bund views are stretching both north and south.

East Nanjing Road and the Bund (technically Zhongyi Li) is definitely the hot spot, as I said in the post, the artery that feeds you to the best view of the Bund. The poor Citibank building has become a rest stop for tourists, not a pleasant site sometimes, but sometimes, all they need is shade. Air conditioning would be a waste of electricity if installed outside.